Thickening of the placental tissue can lead to a change in the course of pregnancy. Placental hyperplasia has a number of features that can affect the intrauterine development of the fetus.
What it is?
Normally, the placenta has a certain size. With each day of pregnancy, the thickness of the placental tissue increases. The rate of thickness of the placenta depends on the duration of pregnancy. If it thickens, then doctors call this condition hyperplasia.
By the time of delivery, the thickness of the placenta is approximately 2-4 cm. If the placenta becomes very thick before the due date, then the course of pregnancy may change.
Causes
A variety of reasons can lead to the development of thickening of the placental tissue. As a rule, if a too thick placenta is diagnosed during pregnancy, then this is evidence that there are some pathologies in the body of the expectant mother.
Various viral and bacterial infections can lead to the development of placental hyperplasia. Pathogenic microbes cause an inflammatory process that leads to a violation of the formation of the placenta. Ultimately, this contributes to the fact that the placental tissue thickens excessively, which leads to the development of its hyperplasia.
Also, a change in the thickness of the placental tissue can develop in anemic conditions, which are accompanied by a strong decrease in hemoglobin in the blood. Also, diabetes mellitus can lead to the development of placental hyperplasia. A persistent increase in blood glucose leads to the development of damage to the placental tissue.
Vascular pathologies can also lead to the development of hyperplasia - it can develop with arterial hypertension. In this case, the development of damage is facilitated by a persistent increase in blood pressure. The higher these numbers in the expectant mother, the higher the risk of developing placental pathology.
Hyperplasia can also develop after the transferred infectious pathologies. So, ureaplasmosis, toxoplasmosis, as well as a number of sexually transmitted diseases can lead to a thickening of the placenta.
The Rh-conflict that occurs between mother and baby can also contribute to the development of characteristic changes in the placenta. In this case, the intrauterine development of the fetus may be disrupted due to the development of complications.
Late toxicosis of pregnancy can also affect the development of placental disorders. This pathology is dangerous because the prognosis for the development of pregnancy, as a rule, worsens. The expectant mother develops severe edema, the general condition is disturbed, and a violation of the uteroplacental blood flow may also develop.
How can it manifest?
In most cases, placental hyperplasia is asymptomatic. In this case, it is simply impossible to suspect the presence of this pathology based on some clinical signs. That is why most often placental hyperplasia becomes a real "find", which is revealed during routine ultrasound during pregnancy.
Thickening of the placenta in some cases can lead to the development of dangerous complications. In this case, the expectant mother begins to worry about adverse symptoms that affect her well-being. So, a woman may have discharge from the genital tract or a slight soreness in the lower abdomen.
Sometimes it also happens that the only symptom that worries the expectant mother who has placental hyperplasia during pregnancy is poor health and general weakness. Such a nonspecific manifestation, as a rule, is not a reason for going to a doctor, which leads to an untimely diagnosis of pathology.
Diagnostics
The main diagnostic method that allows you to identify this pathology is ultrasound examination. During the ultrasound, the doctor can determine the thickness of the placenta, as well as identify various anatomical defects. Quite often, a thickening of the placenta is first diagnosed at 18-20 weeks of pregnancy, but this pathology can be detected much later.
During the determination of the thickness of the placenta, the ultrasound specialist also evaluates its density. The structure of the placental tissue largely depends on the duration of pregnancy. So, in the second trimester, it is quite smooth and uniform.
As labor approaches, the placenta changes its density. Diffuse changes appear in it, as well as areas of compaction. For example, the structure of placental tissue at 32 weeks of gestation differs significantly from that at 20-22 weeks. Such changes are completely normal and indicate a healthy pregnancy.
If, for some reason, the placenta changes its thickness earlier than it should be for this period, then the ultrasound doctor diagnoses the presence of its hyperplasia. At the same time, he necessarily takes accurate measurements of the thickness of the placental tissue and indicates the results in his medical report, which is issued after the examination to the expectant mother. This conclusion is in the future necessarily included in the medical record. Assessing the thickness of the placenta over time allows doctors to track how this pathology develops.
If the expectant mother was diagnosed with placental hyperplasia, then she is also assigned a number of additional examinations. A pregnant woman will need:
- take a biochemical blood test, as well as general blood and urine tests;
- undergo cardiotocography;
- be examined for sexually transmitted infections;
- determine the presence of antibodies (according to indications);
- visit the dopplerography room to identify various disorders of the uteroplacental blood flow;
- visit an obstetrician-gynecologist for a clinical examination and collection of smears from the genital tract for analysis.
Possible consequences
A strong thickening of the placenta most often threatens the development of an extremely dangerous condition - fetoplacental insufficiency. This pathology is accompanied by a strong violation of the uteroplacental blood flow, as a result of which the fetus does not receive oxygen, which means that the process of oxygenation of the child's body is disrupted. Persistent oxygen deficiency can even lead to the development of fetal growth retardation syndrome. In this case, the normal course of intrauterine development of the fetus is disrupted.
A decrease in the growth rate of a baby in such a situation can also lead to the fact that he will grow much more slowly and gain weight. Ultimately, pronounced hyperplasia of the placenta can contribute to the fact that the child will be born low in weight and much earlier than the established date.
If hyperplasia of the placental tissue is also accompanied by oligohydramnios, then in such a situation the fetus has a rather high risk of developing disorders in the structure of its musculoskeletal system. The child may develop curvature of the limbs, as well as various pathologies of the skeleton.
Treatment
The choice of therapy tactics depends on many factors. The doctor necessarily assesses the general condition of the expectant mother and her baby, the degree of the disorders that have occurred, the risk of complications, the duration of pregnancy and much more. Only such a comprehensive assessment allows specialists to choose the right tactics for further pregnancy management.
Placental hyperplasia can be treated in different ways. Basically, basic therapy involves prescribing drugs. They are selected individually, taking into account the features of the expectant mother. Also, when prescribing drugs, their effect on the fetus is necessarily assessed.
Reviews of many women who were diagnosed with placental hyperplasia during pregnancy indicate that in order to treat the disorders that have arisen, they were prescribed vascular drugs.
Indeed, such drugs are often included in the treatment of a thickened placenta. They help to improve blood flow in the organ, which has a positive effect on its functioning.
With placental hyperplasia, pathologies of hemostasis can also develop. They are due to the fact that blood clotting changes. To correct the arising disorders in this case, drugs can be prescribed that affect the blood coagulation system. Most often, therapy with such drugs is carried out in a hospital setting. This is due to the fact that during its implementation it is often necessary to monitor the blood for clotting.
It is more convenient to conduct these examinations in a hospital. During such therapy, it is very important to monitor the condition of the woman and her baby. In this case, a pregnant woman should be constantly under medical supervision.
With placental hyperplasia, blood supply to the placenta is often disrupted. This process is accompanied by the development of pronounced oxygen starvation of tissues - hypoxia.
In order to improve oxygenation and well-being of the fetus, special drugs are prescribed. One of these tools is Actovegin.
In order to prevent massive damage to cell membranes, in some cases, drugs containing essential phospholipids are used. They help maintain the structure of the cell wall, thus providing building function.
Vitamin therapy is another component of the complex treatment of placental hyperplasia. The intake of vital substances helps to improve the functioning of the body. Various multivitamin complexes are prescribed during pregnancy, as a rule, for a rather long intake.
If viral or bacterial infections are the cause of the thickening of the placental tissue, then they should also be treated. For this, doctors resort to prescribing antiviral and antibacterial agents. It should be noted that some of these can have adverse effects on the fetus. In order to avoid such an effect, only the safest and most effective drugs are selected that improve the general condition of both the expectant mother herself and her baby.
For more information about placental pathologies during pregnancy, see the following video.
